Grand Tactician: The Civil War (1861-1865)

[Asid]

[Asid]

Patch 1.11 - AI, Fixing, Rebalancing, Quality of Life
Thu, January 5, 2023



This update focuses on improving the game play experience by fixing bugs & improving the AI.

A New Year, a New Patch!

Gen'l,

Patch 1.11 has been released. This update focuses on improving the game play experience by fixing bugs & improving the AI. In addition to this, there is also something new added, like:

    Number of ships limited in fleets depending on the commander's stats,
    Reworked entrenchment placement controls in battles,
    New Zouave uniforms (including the Louisiana Tigers),
    Updated game Manual.


Read the full patch notes below.
Patch Notes 1.11

Most Respy,
The Grand Tactician Team

Latest Patch 1.1109

As always:
- Thanks for the development patch community for testing and supporting!
- Save games of prior versions should be compatible

Note: the download volume is large this time as we have increased the resolution of all paper maps.

Detailed Patch Notes:

Campaigns:

    fixed: fleets show speed 0 kn for a few game hours after reloading
    fixed: AI picks either too many or too few projects
    disbanded units now return their weapons back to armory
    fixed: auto construction of prison camps not happening if no camp existed yet
    probably fixed: units that have retreated to a fort are reloaded as garrison if not moved
    rebalanced campaign temperature values (for old saves it takes a few days to reset)
    fixed: paroling prisoners in enemy pow camps possible
    added info about import price effects of sea raiders in the blockade tooltip of the trade node
    added ship amount limitations depending on commander’s rank and administration skills
    added tooltip info about blockade details of fleets at unit status element
    fixed: weapon upgrades for zero strength units could lead to not-researched equipment, eg. gatling guns
    company production data is now saved and immediately reloaded
    fixed: switching panels while recruiting tabs are opened lead to overlapping screens when reopening management panel
    fixed: sea raiders perk sometimes not leveling up
    added uniforms of Zouaves and Louisiana Tigers
    clicking invasion alarm icon now refers to the approximate position and shows estimated numbers
    fixed: loading sometimes leads to similar alarm icon entries
    detailed (mouseover) unit info is now available for papermap levels too
    estimated position of enemies hidden behind FOW are now also shown on top papermap levels
    rebalancing of AI offensive actions & area importance values
    fixed: csa artillery units created of regulars act show corrupt uniform and no weapon
    AI now better tries to capture towns before continuing advances


Battles:

    AI always always launches probe attacks if attacking on campaign map, no matter the strength relations (though waiting for reinforcements)
    fixed: wrong tooltip for clearing input in load/save panel
    increasing game speed via keys in deployment phase now ends deployment mode
    units behind now not leave cover if out of fire range but lay down
    reworked barricade and trench placements
    fixed: available engineering points are only applied after constructing a complete entrenchment line, so that long entrenchment lines can be constructed without sufficient points
    improvement of fallback directions
    adding more objectives for larger battles
    improvement of AI fortification positions
    enhanced quartermasters report & lower supply reserves
    fixed: units are resupplied before EOD when reloading a save


Other:

    additional entries for campaignprefs.txt
    fixed: pause KEY is unpaused when moving troops
    fixed: minor visual paper map issues, increased resolution
    improved: cam center on units
    manual update

[Asid]

Whiskey & Lemons
Tue, 21 March 2023



Gen’l,

There were many legendary generals in the American Civil War, like “Stonewall” Jackson, “Old Pete” Longstreet, “Grumble” Jones, “Bull Head” Sumner… each with their own unique stories. In the Grand Tactician DLC, it’s your story.


The Way to the Top – or Not.

Whiskey & Lemons will introduce a new career mode. You will start by creating your character, determining your Civil War personality via a questionnaire, and taking command of a regiment.

As a regimental commander, you are but a small gear in the huge military steam engine. You will have very limited influence over the war, and you will receive orders from your AI commanders. According to your actions and performance, you will generate prestige and get promoted to higher places, where your actions will matter more.

As the DLC campaign will be regiment level, on a zoomed in campaign map, divisions will be the smallest units moving on the campaign map. Single brigades can also be used as garrisons to protect important terrain.

Once commanding a division, you will be able to control the unit on the campaign map. With increased prestige you will be able to influence politics or projects, but this is very limited before rising to the top, commanding the armies of the Union or the Confederacy – provided that you will ever make it that far. Or want to – you can play the whole campaign without accepting any promotions, if you so wish.


Your Story.

There are many things that can get in the way. Your previously mentioned personality could be one of them. Personality is determined on six axes: Loyalty, Piety, Social Life, Heroism, Stress Control and Political Views. These may provide positive and/or negative traits to your career.

You may also attract companions that will be part of your staff. For example, if you are known for lack of loyalty, you may be followed by a Committee Investigator, reporting to the military brass, who may end up limiting your freedom of action by giving political guidance you cannot ignore.

There are also other new features. You will be able to choose to buy your own equipment, recruit your own staff and carry out actions that all will influence your, and your nation’s Civil War journey. You may also get injured in combat, with some of your injuries becoming permanent disabilities.

When you start to gain fame, you may end up with a grudge with some of your fellow officers. This may have a serious impact on your performance in the battle-field, like what happened between Bragg and his lieutenants. And getting rid of them may prove difficult, as it will require further prestige to overrule choices made by the President.

It will be very different, if you become known as “Old Tippler” due to your drinking habits, keep falling off the horse during battles and get into drunken fights with your fellow officers, or as “Skedaddle Joe” due to lack of courage and losing the respect of your men.

Everything you do and experience during the campaign, will be recorded into a Biography. When the campaign ends, you may read your whole story, and see how you compared with historical civil war commanders.




The Other Things.

We’re looking to release Whiskey & Lemons during Q2 of 2023. The plan and development has suffered some real-life related delays, mainly caused by a war in Europe, where the development team is from.

But, while on some fronts there have been delays, on others extra progress has been made. We’re constantly working on the game engine even if the DLC content has not proceeded as earlier planned.

Also the band is recording new music to the game. Along with the DLC release, we will also release the new music as a Soundtrack, the same way we did with the game’s original music – meaning buying the soundtrack is not mandatory to hear the music in the game. The Soundtrack II (working title) allows listening to the tunes outside of the game, and the revenues will go to support our great band, Wasel and the Weasels.

With the DLC release, we’ll also release the next major patch, which is focused on fixing reported issues, implementing some player wishes (like different color fire arcs on paper map), and some performance improvements.

Most Respy,
The Grand Tactician -Team.